Last week, I wrote about my stances on the constitutional amendments and statutory initiatives North Dakotans will be voting on come November, 4th. At that time, I stated that I wanted to save my comment on Measure 1 until a later post. The truth is, as I write this, I am an undecided voter. A…
LegitSlater: My Take on the Measures- 1 through 3
I have a short list of things I would like to write about in my rhapsodies on SayAnythingBlog. Since I generally only have time to do this weekly, I write ideas down in a notebook as they come to me, and cross them off once I do the post. It’s a good system; one I…
Rick Olson: A Take On The Ballot Measures
It has long been my position that a representative democracy goes hand in glove with the legislative process, and oftentimes provides an important check-and-balance of the Legislature. I would agree that in general, the people should allow the legislative process to proceed in the way it was intended. However, there are times that when either…
From The Left: A Review Of The Amendments And Initiatives On The Ballot
A while back, I wrote I feel initiated measures are becoming way too common in North Dakota. I feel that even though the elected legislature may make decisions I disagree with, (and to be fair, they often do) I prefer a representative government of the people’s representatives to a direct democracy when it comes to…
Is North Dakota Getting Carried Away With The Ballot Measures?
Currently Secretary of State Al Jaeger’s office is reviewing signatures submitted by three ballot measure committees. If there are enough valid signatures, those three measures will join five already on the ballot bringing the total number of measures voters will be considering in November to eight. That’s more than any of the last 15 statewide…
School Start Petitioners Say They Have Signatures, Would Be 8th Measure On Ballot
It looks like every petition still in circulation in the state for the November ballot is going to make it. A couple of weeks ago the petition to repeal the state’s pharmacy protection law made the ballot. Yesterday the conservation measure petitioners turned in 41,000 signatures, so they’re undoubtedly on the ballot too (unless they…
LegitSlater: Go Vote
Tomorrow is an important day in North Dakota, although many may not know; or if they do, care. Tomorrow is the primary election day in the state, and while granted the partisan party races are pretty much decided by default, many other important decisions are being made on both a statewide and local basis. The…
Amendment To Resolution Would Ban Initiated Constitutional Measures That Appropriate Money
Update: Senator David Hogue emails to make it clear that this amendment impacts only constituitonal measures. Statutory measures that appropriate money, or direct appropriations, would be ok. After rampant signature fraud on two ballot measures last year, North Dakota’s legislature has been grappling with reform for the initiated measure process. One proposal is SCR4006 which,…
Taxpayer Funded Lobbying Gets Approval From ND Senate
I might be more upset with this development if it weren’t for the fact that taxpayer dollars are already being used for lobbying. The government using taxpayer dollars to lobby other levels of government for more taxpayer dollars is exactly what we don’t want, but let’s not kid ourselves. This is already happening, despite the…
ND House Waters Down "Ridiculous" State Smoking Ban
In the last election North Dakotans voted for a statewide smoking ban that, going beyond merely banning smoking, contained a number of provisions for workplaces such as posting signs and removing factory-installed ash trays even in personal vehicles used for work. But today the ND House voted for two laws watering down that ban. North…